章 3: Chapter Three :Humpty Dumpty
Flying colors and unfamiliar noises whirred around in Agatha's mind. It was like being inside of a world of swirling, humming paint. Time had no meaning and reality was questionable, at best. When she managed to get a few seconds to understand what was happening to her, all she could feel was a bodiless sensation, like floating on water. She felt as if waves were rolling underneath her, pushing her further into the ocean and at the same time, she had become the water; her body melted into the waves. Agatha's thoughts had been scrambled too, which she would become aware of in no more than a few seconds' time. She started to question herself.
What happened? Where am I?
Agatha's mind quickly returned to the colored blur. She no longer understood her existence when colors filled her world. They created an endless loop until finally, it seemed that they were beginning to form something hazy and distant. Her mom's cry echoed in the noise of colors. For a moment, Agatha questioned who was crying.
"Agatha," mom's voice says in a sad tone.
Who is Agatha?
"Why did you go out and do that? Don't you care what I think at all?" Mom's voice sounded shaky.
"Mom, everyone else is using the mind network," a voice answered back.
"Just because everyone else is using it? Agatha, that's a piss poor excuse to run off and get implants on a whim. You can never undo this decision - there are no second chances. I hope your happy," mom's voice said, raised in anger.
"I'm happy because I can finally make friends. Mom, I love you, but I need others, even it's on the internet," a voice argued back.
Memories flashed backwards and forwards; the times of her and her mother planting flowers; of walking to a field at night to watch the Jet-spaceship shows; the times that they argued, as well as the times of forgiveness and love.
Agatha felt like these dreams related to her somehow, but no matter how hard she tried to focus on these dreams, they remained a blurry mass of colors. Agatha then tried to make sense of who she was and what was happening. Her mind reached a point where she could finally have thoughts again, filling the emotionless, colorful void. Agatha remembered nothing - her childhood was gone. She tried to wake up but she couldn't break free from the cage that was her mind. Although she felt a deep connection with one of the voices in her dreams, the other felt like it was a part of her.
It might be my voice… at least I think so, Agatha thought. She had no idea who or what the other voice belonged to but she felt a deep sadness whenever she heard it; like something had been ripped away from her and she'd never had the chance to say goodbye.
"Wait, shouldn't we think about this? It's never too late to throw it on the fire and pretend this never happened," a female voice said. Agatha snapped out of the looping dreams and voices that she was becoming used to hearing. This voice was different from the rest and didn't feel like it belonged to this world of colors. It sounded like it was outside of her dreams. This was a weird thought for Agatha to have because the colorful void was all she knew; she was born into it, with nothing else.
"I might have to agree, this might shock her right back into a coma," a voice like a young boy's responded in concern.
"Or she could be completely brain dead anyway and we've wasted all of our parts for nothing," another boy's voice said, filled with criticism.
"Why are you even calling that thing a 'she'? After the beam was done with the particle transfer, there was no recognizable "
"Stop!" A big male voice boomed over the female one that had tried to talk again. All went quiet; even her colorful world seemed to stop moving for the first time. This freaked Agatha out - it never stopped!
"Look, Hazim, you did the right thing. Don't let Zahra bully you. Zahra, I'm disappointed in you. I would think that you'd be more compassionate," the big male voice said.
"I am, I was the one who found the mass, having to see that twitching and twisted mess of body parts. I had more compassion than him! He was just ogling at the deformed body as if it were growing inside one of those pods. I will never be able to forget that, not ever," Zahra insisted, with clear discomfort in the girl's voice.
"Zahra," the male voice said in a softer tone, then a few moments passed by in silence again.
"Thanks, Dion, I needed that and I'm sorry. I feel for her, I really do. I just can't do this right now," the girl's voice said between shaky breaths and a sniffle.
"Zahra, I understand. You could have said so and I would have let you go somewhere else. I love you; I love all of you and I understand if any of you children don't want to see what happens - I grant permission to leave the hangar," a big male voice said. The sound of soft footsteps lasted for a second before they were beyond Agatha's hearing reach.
"Justin, of course you would stay," Dion's voice said, the owner of the big male voice.
"Of course I would, I helped build it, trying to piece it back to together with you. I really hope it boots up correctly," the young man's voice sounded filled with interest.
"Justin, no matter how many parts are inside this girl's body now, she is still a human, no matter the lack of flesh," Dion's voice said in a scolding tone, like a teacher trying to correct a student.
"Yeah, yeah. Let's wake her up, then," Justin's voice said impatiently. There was a big sigh followed by a few clicking sounds, and another type of noise that she'd never heard before. Silence passed.
"Oh, what now? Just work already!" Justin's voice was frustrated.
"Calm down, it's going to take a minute. Her brain had liquid nitrogen pumped into it. The cell reviver implant has to carefully unfreeze her brain and then pump the copied blood cells throughout her body," Dion's deep voice said sharply. There was a mumble that she didn't quite hear, but it sounded like Justin was tense.
The colors from Agatha's dream began to fade and she started to panic again. She had no idea what was happening, or who was messing with her.
"That's a lot of activity on the screen. That's good, right?" Justin asked, his voice peaked with interest.
"Yes, this means that she isn't brain dead. We will have to wait and see if there's any brain damage," Dion says.
"There probably is, but that can be repaired," Justin said, dismissing Dion's last comment.
"Oh, and where do you think we can find new brain tissue?" Dion huffed.
"Well..." Justin tailed off.
"Unholy God, you can't be serious. We don't know what that could possibly cause. That DNA has been copied so many times, it might mess with her brain. In the worst case, she could try to kill us all! That's an obvious 'no' from me. Whatever state her brain is in, we will have to deal with it. I did this to save a life, not rebuild one.
"Are you seriously saying that you'd rather have a r-"
Agatha opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was a big man wearing a funny looking headset with some beard sticking out from underneath it. The man yanked off the headwear to reveal a face that had been replaced with some type of metal. The metal-like skin had a dent in the cheek, making it look like he'd been punched, and there were some scratches and little scrapes all over his face. He looked like a war-torn Terminator of sorts. His eyes were robotic too but they were way softer. They vaguely mimicked human eyes: a calm brown-gray circular plate for the iris and a camera for the pupils. The man had no sclera or eyelids; what held his eyes together wasn't immediately obvious, but Agatha could see the translucent wires in the light. The sight before her easily transfixed someone like Agatha. If this man was in the dark, he would look like a pair of floating gray eyes. Suddenly, someone grabbed her head and made her turn the other way. It was a young man with a normal face, at least compared with the other man. This one had blond hair and dark green eyes, the color of mint. He had a squarish face that had seen better days. Even if they were normal, though, there was something wrong with the boy's eyes.
"Hey, be careful, brat," Dion said. Then, without warning, he slapped Justin's hand with a hard snapping sound. Justin flinched back and gently shook the bright red hand before him.
"Sorry about him, he means well. He just forgets how people should act in situations like this," Dion said while glaring at Justin with disapproval. Justin responded with a big eye roll and stepped closer to Agatha.
"I'm Dion, the surgical engineer. I do surgery and make stuff. This young man is Justin, he's my assistant, although he doesn't act like it. I run this hanger. Don't let this rabble-rouser get to your head," Dion says. "What's your name, do you remember?"
Agatha blinked, trying to respond, but all that came out were some gargled noises that didn't form any words.
"Well, we thought this would happen. You ready to flush her out, Dion?" Justin asked in a sarcastic tone.
"Justin!" Dion snapped in panic.
"Cool your jets, Dion. See? She has no idea what I'm talking about. Blissfully unaware, like a newborn with that look of innocence. No harm done," Justin smirked and patted Agatha on the head like she was a pet.
"Justin, get out of here before I decide to flush YOU," Dion said angrily, not amused in the slightest. Justin shrugged as if he was unfazed but his quickened footsteps said otherwise.
"Smartass." Dion sighed then looked back at Agatha. He pushed a button on the table and it began to lift up slowly. Agatha could see more than just faces now. Beside her, there was a machine displaying many types of surgical tools and there was a bunch of wires attached to it. Scraps of metal and robotic parts lay scattered around the room. There was a blueprint of a body being put back together, with labels pointing to the different parts. There were some other notes too, but Agatha couldn't focus on those.
"I don't know if you can understand me, but I tried my best to save what I could and make you look the way I imagine you used to look like. You probably have no memories from before or after the beam. Let's hope, with time, that your brain can repair itself." Dion said this with hope in his voice, but it did sound forced. Once it was fully upright, he grabbed the table and turned it until Agatha was facing a mirror on his side. He stood silently, getting ready for Agatha's reaction. First, the face: it was metal, just like Dion's, but hers was more feminine, sleeker and skinnier in comparison. The robotic eyes were ice-blue like they had been before, but her neck had been replaced with tubes and wires. The chest area had some skin, at least. It seemed that Dion was able to save her torso for the most part, but there was still a metal plate that covered her right breast and went across her body, covering her stomach. Her left side seemed to be completely unharmed.
"I copied the skin that was left. Unfortunately, this type of skin is more fragile than the original thing. I'm making a half-suit that will cover up your weak spots. I think it'll be worth it though. Since you're human, I've tried my best to ensure that you look that way. I'm making an artificial face for you - I'm sorry I couldn't save your old one," Dion says with a happy smile, but there is a sadness behind his eyes. He really did try to save as much as he could. Her legs were another story though. The right one looked like someone had attempted to sow back it together, while other parts had been patched up with metal. The left had been replaced entirely up to the thigh, and there was a triangle-shaped object where her foot should be
"I couldn't save your foot on that leg. I did try for the longest time but after a while, the foot went bad," Dion said.
Seconds ticked by and an awkward energy radiated from Dion as he waited for a response. Agatha couldn't give him one. He was talking about being human but she didn't even know what that meant at the moment. All she could do was try to take in the information that was being given to her.
"Oh yeah, your brain will need to recover first. Don't worry - it won't be like this forever. When the time is right, we can teach you how to talk again. You should know how to walk though. I made sure to put that information inside you," Dion said, then he pressed another button on the table and the restraints released her. Agatha stood perfectly still.
"Walk forward, please," Dion said gently.
Slowly and carefully, Agatha took a step forward. To her surprise, her body and mind knew how to keep balance, even if her movements were sluggish.
"Slow, but we all have to start somewhere, right?" Dion beamed and grabbed a touch screen, tapping it to wake it up and then swiping through information that she couldn't see.
"Let's show you around. Don't worry about your pace - there's going to be a lot of information to process anyway, so taking it slow is probably the better option. We go at your pace, no rush," Dion smiled.
Agatha looked around a little more. The room was bigger than it first appeared. There were two more repair stations, like Agatha's, as well as two work desks on the opposite side of the room. Both were littered with paperwork, pencils, pens, notes and there was garbage filling the trashcans beside them. One desk had a model ship sitting upon it, with many pieces yet to be put in place.
"That Toronto desk over there is Justin's. I have tried to tell that boy to clean up but he always refuses to. He claims that everything has its own special place and if I tried to clean it up, I would have to find everything on his side for him. The boy is smart but he's no good other than that," Dion said, shaking his head in disappointment. Agatha eyed Dion's desk to see that it wasn't that much better in terms of tidiness. He missed the judging glance that Agatha shot him for a few seconds; she'd already adopted a relaxed expression by the time Dion had turned to look at her again.
"The quickest way out of here is this way, unless you feel like exercising. Take the door that leads to the stairs," Dion made a brief hand gesture toward the door across from his table, only a few steps away. The room itself was relatively compact, being about six feet in length and one yard in width. It would have been a decent room if it weren't for all of the junk in boxes and metal scraps hanging from the ceiling, which made it feel a lot more cramped. There were medical supplies on a cart nearby which must've been what Dion had used to take care of Agatha. In fact, there was enough medication and medical apparatus to fill a small pharmacy - all types of different things.
"Try walking properly now," Dion encouraged.
Agatha took several steps forward this time. Despite having two different feet, she walked like she would have if she didn't have an object stuck to the end of one leg. Dion started to walk ahead and Agatha followed him without question. They both moved between the boxes and strange items hanging from the ceiling. Dion stopped briefly in front of a wall with a slight seam running down it. It opened with a squeak. They both moved forward onto a platform and as soon as the wall closed again, the platform began to descend into a light-filled square hole
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